UCF football success years in making

The 20 seniors on the UCF football team's roster don't think the Knights' success started when they captured the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1.

It started years ago when players like Daunte Culpepper and Asante Samuel laid the foundation. It grew under the leadership of George O'Leary, who led the school to three bowl victories and earned the Knights national recognition. And now, players hope to build on UCF's success for the next generation of Knights.

"Right now, I'm just happy we're getting recognition and I'm a part of it. I think the people who were here before me paved the way for us, and we're paving the way for the people that are going to be here after us," UCF senior defensive back Clayton Geathers said.

Despite the history of successful players and victories, they have a lot more work to do before college football observers recognize UCF has a consistent threat.

Nationally, the Knights failed to earn enough points to rank among the top 25 in the preseason college football coaches' poll.

Adding insult to injury, UCF wasn't even picked to repeat as the American Athletic Conference champion in the annual preseason media poll. Cincinnati is the favorite.

UCF saw five of its top offensive performers enter the NFL, including the Jacksonville Jaguars' No. 3 draft selection Blake Bortles.

"I think people called us a one-hit wonder that one year we beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl, and then [again] coming back and winning the St. Pete Bowl," UCF senior receiver J.J. Worton said. "This year is just another story that we're ready to write, it's just new characters that are in it and we're gonna take what we need to and put it on the field."

Their confidence is fueled by the culture of winning they commit to every day. O'Leary demands excellence in the little things away from the field such as keeping a tidy locker room. If the floor is cluttered with equipment or dirt, he forces the seniors to run. He also commands players to show up at least 15 minutes early to meetings.

Michael Campbell, a redshirt sophomore offensive linemen, showed up 30 minutes early to a meeting once and O'Leary walked in five minutes later, thus making him 25 minutes early for his own meeting.

So Campbell's heart raced when he showed up late to a meeting one day as a result of oversleeping. The team had a game the previous night.

"I ran right past O'Leary into the meeting," Campbell chuckled. "My heart was pounding, not from running. When O'Leary looked right at me, I didn't want to make eye contact."

That kind of attention to detail is what helped the Knights set the stage for success in 2013. The Knights have tallied a 34-19 record since 2009.

"Since I got here as a freshman, we came in wanting to put UCF on the map," senior offensive lineman Torrian Wilson said. "We knew that if we just stuck together as a team that we knew that we could become one of the top teams in the nation and last year we proved it. And this year, we're just trying to follow through on what we did last year."